Chapter 53: Evolving (II)
The mist danced low across the frozen lake, curling beneath Vlad’s boots as he moved swiftly across the ice, pursued by the silver wolf cloaked in an intense, luminous aura.
The Moon wolf only grew more ferocious after its second puppet fell, but the rising intensity of the battle only served to excite Vlad.
Because he could feel his mind slowly growing accustomed to this foreign experience.
The noise of the world had faded away. The howl of the wind, the distant murmur of watchers outside the mist, even the ice groaning underfoot, all of it was slowly fading away.
The mental clarity Vlad felt was familiar to him, in his past life this clear state was second nature but to the current him this was a new feeling, a new state his mind was adjusting to.
The Moon Wolf moved, its muscles tensing, and in that moment Vlad felt it, not as just instinct, but as a vision. A flicker, ghostly and raw came to his mind, showing him how the beast would leap, claws out, fangs aiming low.
The Silver wolf has not even moved yet, not fully, but Vlad saw it, less than a second into the future, the arc of motion, the weight shift, the foot placement, even the subtle tension along the jaw.
So Vlad reacted, not to the now, but to the future he saw, not caring that he was currently blind and what he saw was through his trait, and his vision could be wrong leading him to die a quick death.
The chain spun, the sickle reversed its angle and caught nothing but air or so everyone thought, only to see that a heartbeat later, the wolf appeared in that exact arc, its flank catching the blade mid-motion.
Sparks flared against illuminated hide, the beast’s body turning tense as the blade sunk in, only to get ripped out with a trail of blood and poison.
This was it, a nascent foresight, the evolution of the second aspect of his trait. It was far from perfect, giving him little over a second, but enough time to react.